Investigation Finds Calif. Ballot Counting Facility Only Half-Staffed

As vote counting continues at a slow pace across Los Angeles County and much of California, reporters visiting the county’s 144,000-square-foot ballot processing center on Thursday found numerous workstations sitting empty despite a massive backlog of ballots still awaiting review.

The scene raised questions about the pace of ballot processing as election officials work through hundreds of thousands of outstanding votes more than a week after Election Day.

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According to figures released by county officials Wednesday night, only 77,521 additional ballots had been processed since the June 2 election.

Yet officials estimated that approximately 713,180 ballots remained outstanding and still needed to be counted, the California Post reported following its investigation of the facility.

However, during The Post’s visit, large portions of the facility’s work stations were empty, while boxes of ballots could be seen everywhere.

“In one area, where ballots that cannot be automatically read by scanners are reviewed by election workers, roughly 25 bins of ballots appeared ready for processing while no employees were seated at nearby desks,” the outlet reported.

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“In another section where workers open envelopes and prepare ballots for counting, The Post observed about 75 employees working, despite the area being capable of accommodating more than twice that number,” it said.

President Trump also took aim at California’s slow count with a social media post.

“The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,” he posted on Truth Social.

Trump also said the Justice Department is looking into California’s shady electoral system.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, who was leading Thursday over Democrats Xavier Bacerra and Tom Steyer, said Thursday that he would urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to establish what he called an Emergency Election Count Accelerator Corps to help clear ballot backlogs across the state.

Hilton’s proposal would deploy state personnel and rapid-response teams to counties facing significant delays in processing and tabulating ballots, with the goal of accelerating the certification of election results.

“California is the laughing stock of the nation when it comes to election reporting. We are the fourth-largest economy in the world, home to Silicon Valley and some of the most advanced technology on earth, yet government bureaucrats need a month to count fewer than 10 million ballots,” he said.

Hilton had fallen to third place by Sunday, however, as more ballots came in.

The growing criticism comes despite the massive resources devoted to election administration in Los Angeles County.

County budget documents show that the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office operates with an annual budget of nearly $336 million and more than 1,100 authorized positions, making it one of the largest local election operations in the nation.

The department is headed by Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan, who oversees all county election activities and, according to county records, receives an annual salary of $448,179, The Post reported.

Seeking answers about the pace of ballot processing, The Post submitted a series of questions to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office, asking how many employees are currently assigned to counting ballots, whether staffing shortages or vacancies exist, why numerous workstations appeared unoccupied despite the substantial backlog, and whether additional personnel could help speed up the process.

Post reporters also raised those concerns directly while touring the facility. During the visit, a staff member at the election center was asked why rows of ballot-processing stations appeared unused even as hundreds of thousands of ballots remained outstanding.

“The employee told us not to be ‘fooled by what you see,’” The Post continued. “When pressed to elaborate, the staff member offered no further explanation and walked away.”